Luck in the Shadows

ride? See anything interesting? Who stole your purse?"
    "There was a procession at the Sea Market and I—" Alec stopped, openmouthed, as Seregil's last questions registered. Checking his belt, he found only the severed strings where his wallet had hung.
    "That bastard at the Sea Market!" He groaned.
    Seregil regarded him with a crooked grin. "Let me guess: thin, whey-faced, big nose, bad teeth? Got close to you for some reason and wouldn't be shaken off? Relieved you of this, I believe."
    Seregil tossed Alec, a purse. It was his own, and quite empty.
    "His name's Tym." Seregil's grin broadened.
    "I figured he'd hit you at the market. He can't resist working a crowd, especially if there are bluecoats around."
    Alec stared at Seregil, aghast. "You set him on me! He works for you?"
    "From time to time, so you're likely to see him again. You can settle up with him then, if you want. I hope you didn't lose too much."
    "No, but I still don't understand why you did it. Bilairy's Elbows, Seregil. If I hadn't been carrying that pass in my coat—"
    "Consider it your first lesson in city life. Something of the sort had to happen sooner or later. I figured sooner was better. I did warn you before you left to watch out for yourself."
    "I thought I did." Alec bristled, thinking of the rough characters he'd managed to avoid in the Ring.
    Seregil clapped him on the shoulder. "Well, don't fret. Tym's a professional in his own small way, and you're his favorite sort of victim: just in from the country, green as grass, mouth hanging open as you take in the city. So tell me about your ride."
    "Didn't Tym tell you about it?" Alec scowled, feeling he'd been made a fool of.
    "Tym isn't you. I want to hear what you saw."
    Still smoldering, Alec sketched a terse description of the Ring, pointedly including the ambushers, then moved on to the procession at the Sea Market.
    "Lord Vardarus." Seregil frowned, twirling a glass rod between two long fingers. "I did a few things for him in the past. I'd have said he was completely loyal to the Queen."
    "That cutpurse of yours said he'd tried to assassinate Lord Barien. Myrhini and I saw Lord Barien before I left, over at the Palace. Maker's Mercy, Seregil, he must have just come from the execution when I saw him, and he was talking of some festival!"
    "The Festival of Sakor, at the winter solstice," Seregil replied absently. "I wonder what Nysander knows about all this? I'd never have taken Vardarus for a Leran."
    "What are Lerans, anyway?"
    Seregil glanced up in surprise. "Bilairy's Balls. You mean I never told you about Idrilain the First?"
    "No. That night on the Darter you said there was a lot I'd have to learn about the royal lines, but then you got sick."
    "Ah, well then, you're in for a treat. Idrilain the First's one of my favorites. She lived four hundred years ago and is the first and only of the Skalan queens to take an Aurлnfaie as consort."
    "An Aurлnfaie?"
    "That's right, though this wasn't her first husband. Idrilain was a great warrior, known for her strong will and fiery temper. By the age of twenty, she was already a general. At twenty-two, she married on the day of her coronation and soon produced an heir, a daughter named Lera. Not long after, Zengat declared war on Aurлnen. The Aurлnfaie appealed to Skala for help and Idrilain led the forces south herself."
    "Where's Zengat?" Alec broke in, his head spinning with unfamiliar names.
    "West of Aurлnen, where the mountains of Ared Nimra reach the Selon Sea. The Zengati are a fierce bunch, most of them warriors, brigands, and pirates. Occasionally they get bored with fighting among themselves and band together to make trouble for their neighbors, especially Aurлnen. This time they were laying claim to lands down near Mount Bardok.
    "Once they got into western Aurлnen, they decided they might as well have the rest of it.
    "During her campaign there, Idrilain fell in love with a handsome Aurлnfaie captain named Corruth. He returned to Skala with her, where nearly caused a civil war by putting aside her first consort to marry him."
    "But you said it was common practice for a queen to change lovers as much as she liked," Alec recalled.
    "But they usually only did so to gain an heir. Idrilain already had a daughter. But there was also the matter of Corruth being Aurлnfaie."
    "You mean not human?"
    "That's right. Even though the ancient ties from the Great War were still remembered with gratitude, it was quite a different matter